Spanish Background Report - Adult Education in Spain

Transcription

1 Spanish background report on: Improving Teaching and Learning for Adults with Basic Skill Needs Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia Subdirección General de Formación Profesional Coordinación del Proyecto: Área de Formación a lo largo de la vida Elaboración del Informe: Jordi Planas & Maria Montoriol GRET (Education and Labour Research Group) Autonomous University of Barcelona Spain

2 Bellaterra, October

3 0. SUMMARY Page 1. INTRODUCTION 4 2. THE NATURE OF THE CHALLENGES SPAIN FACES IN REGARD TO ADULT BASIC SKILLS EDUCATION THE DEFINITION OF BASIC SKILL NEEDS AND THE SCALE OF THE CHALLENGES SPAIN FACES WITH REGARD TO ADULT BASIC SKILLS EDUCATION The debate on definitions Operational definitions and quantification of potential users 9 4. GENERAL REGULATORY FRAMEWORK OF ADULT EDUCATION IN SPAIN MAIN PROGRAMMES Basic training Vocational training Training for participation Relationship between aims, programmes, users and potential users PROFILES OF INSTRUCTORS ASSESSMENT OF THE PROGRAMMES THE STATE OF THE ART IN FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT GAPS IN PROVISION AND TAKE UP REFERENCES APPENDICES. 32 3

4 1. INTRODUCTION This background report on Spain explains the range of challenges and policy approaches to addressing adult basic skill needs in Spain. This background report includes descriptions of : The nature and scale of the challenges Spain faces in regard to adult basic skills education. Any major national or regional programmes or policies developed to meet the needs of adults with low basic skill needs. Profiles of instructors. Gaps in provision and take up. Assessment policies/structures including qualification examinations, programme participation and performance targets, and so on. The art of formative assessment in adult basic skills education. 2. THE NATURE OF THE CHALLENGES THAT SPAIN FACES IN REGARD TO ADULT BASIC SKILLS EDUCATION The majority of the over 35 million adults presently living in Spain were born between the beginning of the 1930s and the end of the 1980s (see statistical appendices). To understand challenges facing the population of adults with basic skill needs, we first need to understand the particular challenges facing each generation. The main factors conditioning the history of these generations with regard to the skills available are, on the one hand, the training opportunities each generation has had and, on the other hand, the demographic phenomena which have influenced Spain s current adult population. But, during the same period, the needs for basic skills have also changed due to the evolution of society in every field, increasing the level and modifying the kind of necessary basic skills. The most important consequences of these factors are the following: - Today s Spanish population has lived and been trained in very different educational contexts and have had very unequal training opportunities. Until the end of the 70s, there was no modern and generalist educational system guaranteeing real compulsory schooling for all in Spain. This appears in the level of studies of the Spanish population. The generations born at the end of the 60s have an educational level which, with the peculiarities that are specific to each country, can be compared to that of the other countries of the European Union. However, the generations born between 4

5 1940 and 1970 only had an old-fashioned and minority educational system available 1, with rates of schooling that were very different from those of the other countries of the European Union for the same generations (Beduwe and Planas, 2003: ). - Until the 1970s, labour training was developed through experience (Köhler, 1994). 1 As the tables show (Beduwe and Planas, 2003: ), the qualifications reached by each generation are very different depending on the country: Born 1940 Germany UK France Italy Spain 1a. no quals. 9% 39% 28% 56% 32% 1b. certificate of compulsory education 2. lower secondary 3. vocational education 4. upper secondary 24% - 27% - 57% 1% 9% 6% 23% - 51% 34% 20% 3% 3% - 3% 7% 12% 2% 5. higher ed. 14% 16% 12% 5% 6% Born 1950 Germany UK France Italy Spain 1a b Born 1960 Germany UK France Italy Spain 1a b Born around 1970 Germany ( ) UK ( ) France (1972) Italy ( ) Spain (1972) 1a b

6 - In the Spanish adult population we find different levels of educational attainment based on variables such as age and sex (see statistical appendices). - In addition, the increasingly long initial training period, and dizzying changes in social and work life not only affect younger adults but adults in general. To maintain their basic skills, they must participate in training programmes throughout their lives. This fact increases those challenges arising from the previous training deficits of older generations. - The Spanish Educational System has provided most people born at the end of the 1960s and after with the basic skills corresponding to longer and modern compulsory education, which has increased from four years prior to 1970 to eight years with the introduction of the General Education Law (Ley General de Educación). However, between 25 and 30% have still not attained the aims of compulsory education. Reducing the high level of school failure continues to be one of the main challenges of the Spanish Educational System; furthermore, to address the deficits in basic skills of those who did not have this training when they were teen-agers and are adults today is one of the greatest challenges for adult education in Spain. - With regard to access to on-going training, we see that, in Spain as elsewhere, the natural tendency is for the most highly-trained people to receive more training, whereas those who have more deficits in basic skills are generally excluded (Planas and Rifà, 2003). - The ageing of the population is an important demographic trend in Spain. About 20% of the population will be over 65 in As noted above, today s adults in Spain were born between the 1930s and 1980s. During the second half of the twentieth century, Spain went from being a country of emigrants to being a country of immigration. Today, the native Spanish population has a very low emigration rate, whereas immigration has attained 8.5%, which in absolute terms is individuals, most from north Africa, Africa, Latin America and eastern Europe. - In the case of young people, the high rates of school failure recorded in Spain also represent a major problem, primarily in relation to the hindrance it represents in access to lifelong training. This is especially serious for the young who have many years of social and work life ahead of them. However, the training deficits of young adults are not the same as those of older adults: whereas illiteracy in older adults relates to basic knowledge due to the lack of access to schooling, illiteracy in young adults is due to school failure. Despite the fact that the latter is a subject that is far from the aims of 2 Elaborated by us based on the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics (INE, Instituto Nacional de Estadística) population projections on the basis of the 2001 census. 6

7 this report, we should not ignore it as an eventual source of problems, and a barrier to the development of lifelong learning for the whole population. Finally, Spanish society has been transformed from a society of emigrants (up to the 1960s), to a society receiving immigrants over the last few decades. This situation has meant new challenges in the capacity to provide access to the basic skills required by our society of adults who have been trained in cultural and linguistic environments very different from Spanish society. However, on average, these immigrants have a level of initial training that is higher than that of the average of the Spanish population, primarily due to their young age. 7

8 3. THE DEFINITION OF BASIC SKILL NEEDS AND THE SCALE OF THE CHALLENGES THAT SPAIN FACES WITH REGARD TO ADULT BASIC SKILLS EDUCATION The notion of basic skills varies in space and time; consequently, when agreeing on the competences or skills we should guarantee for all, we may find different definitions: from understanding that it is a matter of acquisition of basic skills (reading-writing and numeracy), as well as the ability to use these skills in a way beneficial for socioeconomic development, to promotion of critical literacies to promote social change The debate on the definitions. In the definition of basic skill needs, each country or institution highlights those aspects it considers more important at a specific moment, according to its aims and situation. Thus, while the EU is already referring to basic skills for the development of lifelong learning, most countries in the world aim at generalising literacy across the whole population with the aim of improving living conditions and expectations for economic growth. Therefore, we see that although the EU benchmark for basic skills has been raised to a fairly high level, Spain has not necessarily met other, less ambitious benchmarks, either, especially with regard to the populations born in the post-war period (and particularly for women and some groups of immigrants). UNESCO s Global Monitoring Report 2006 on the project Education for All (EFA) is fully devoted to this subject. The report is seen as a providing the fundamental guidance for eliminating poverty and improving living conditions throughout the world. It also supports the establishment and maintenance of free and democratic systems. The UNESCO report analyses different approaches that have shaped this field over the last century, summarising them and organising them in four general categories 3 : 1. Literacy as an autonomous set of concrete skills, especially reading and writing. 2. Literacy as applied, practised and situated in a context. 3. Literacy as a learning process. 4. Literacy as text, as object of study, understanding that what is taught creates reality for those who learn, for it builds, legitimates and reproduces already existing structures of power. 3 The first three, with value per se, and the fourth one, as a metalinguistic reflection on the basis of post-modern approaches. 8

9 The definition of basic skills in Spanish policy guidelines is refers to these definitions, which are elaborated in general and on an international level. As in most EU countries, phenomena such as school failure, longer life expectancy and extra-community immigration require us to maintain the aims of the different ways of understanding literacy simultaneously. Thus, policies for advanced literacy specific to the knowledge society co-exist with policies aimed at fighting basic deficits in reading-writing, mathematics or the social and work situation of less-privileged people Operational definitions and users. According to the needs and goals for basic skills identified in Spain, we find three different operational definitions of the term basic skills. All of them may be useful to address different needs: a. Basic skills as a series of elementary skills needed for daily life. We refer to the UNESCO definition (1978) of basic skills, limiting them to the term functional literacy : A person is functionally literate who can engage in all those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning of his/her group and community and also for enabling him/her to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his/her own and the community s development. According to official statistics in Spain, in the fourth quarter of 2005 there were individuals who may be categorised as illiterate, on the basis of the aforementioned definition. (EPA-Encuesta de Población Activa, Survey on Working Population). Within this group, about 70% are women ( ); in addition, 65% of these women are over 60 years old. b. Basic skills obtained after concluding the compulsory period of official schooling. The skills required at present in Spain to obtain an official certificate of basic studies are the same as those assessed for Compulsory Secondary Education (Enseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria, ESO), and are certified with the diploma of Graduate in Compulsory Secondary Education (Graduado en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, GESO). This diploma is usually obtained in official schooling at the age of 16, but adults may also earn it through specific programmes, as described below in section 5. 9

10 c. Basic skills that are required to have access to lifelong learning. Complying with European recommendations regarding the need to develop lifelong learning as a measure to foster economic growth and competitiveness, on the one hand, and to reduce the risk of social fracture, on the other hand, there is a third definition of basic skills that we consider appropriate for the Spanish framework. According to this definition, basic skills must be understood as those transversal skills allowing people to continue learning throughout their lives in a changing, uncertain and technologically advanced society. According to the European Commission, the following set of basic skills is considered necessary/desirable in confronting the social and economic challenges of the region foreseen for the future. They are 4 : 1. Communication in the mother tongue; 2. Communication in foreign languages; 3. Mathematical competence and basic skills in science and technology; 4. Digital competence; 5. Learning to learn; 6. Interpersonal, intercultural and social skills and civic competence; 7. Entrepreneurship; and 8. Cultural expression. 4. GENERAL LEGISLATION OF ADULT EDUCATION IN SPAIN Adult education is regulated by the Education Acts of the last two decades in Spain (LOGSE, LOCE and LOE) 5. These Acts recognise the increasing importance of lifelong learning as a means for the social cohesion and development of a democratic society. It is important to observe that, in Spain, educational powers have been decentralised and transferred to the governments of the different Autonomous Communities or Regions, so that the latter are in charge of developing and applying the respective regulations with regard to adult training. Consequently, Spanish general laws on education function as 4 For a better description, see the document Proposal for a recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on key skills for lifelong learning ( ) on: 5 LOGSE (Organic Law 1/1990, of October 3, on the General Ordering of the Educational System) LOCE (Organic Law 10/2002) of December 23 on the Quality of Education) LOE (Organic Law on Education, of 20 April Law Project passed definitively by the Parliament) 10

11 framework laws, establishing general principles to be developed by each Autonomous Community according to specific local needs and goals. The General Educational Act, LOE (Ley Orgánica de Educación,) establishes the current legal bases for adult education; the importance of which has been stated with the LOGSE (Ley de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo,) in The LOGSE (1990), established three main fields of action: 1. Instrumental or basic, with the aim of acquiring and updating basic training and favouring access to the different levels of the educational system; 2. Work, with the aim of improving personal qualifications or acquiring training in order to be able to work in other professional fields; 3. Participatory, with the aim of developing the ability of participation in social, cultural, political and economic life. With the aim of regulating and broadening adult training, the legislation allows the establishment of collaboration agreements with universities, local bodies and other public or private organisations. Furthermore, legislation fosters collaboration with the different Public Administrations with a remit on adult education, especially with the Labour Administration. The Organic Law on Qualifications and Vocational Training ( Ley Orgánica de las Cualificaciones y la Formación Profesional 5/2002), structures the three large branches of vocational training in Spain: for youth in their initial training period, for unemployed individuals, and for working people. The recently passed Education Act (Ley Orgánica de Educación, LOE) establishes the following aims for adult education: A) to acquire basic education, to expand and to update knowledge, skills and abilities in an ongoing manner and to facilitate access to the different offerings of the educational system. B) to improve professional qualifications or to acquire preparation to enter other professions. C) to develop personal capacities in communicative, expressive, and interpersonal relations and in the construction of learning environments. D) to develop capacity for participation in economic, political, cultural, and social life and to exercise the right of democratic citizenship. E) to develop programmes that address the risks of social exclusion, especially for the most disadvantaged populations. F) to respond adequately to the challenges of the progressively ageing population, assuring older people the opportunity of upgrading and updating their competences. 11

12 G) to predict and to peacefully resolve social, family, and personal conflicts H) to promote effective equality of rights and opportunities between men and women, as well as to analyse and to critically assess gender inequalities. The LOE, like the LOGSE, encourages autonomous learning in adult education and training. The legal framework for adult education and training of those with deficits in basic skills has been based on the following axes: - In general, adult training is directed towards people over 18 years old, for this is the maximum age in Compulsory Secondary Education (which normally ends at the age of 16). Exceptionally and on demand, students over 16 may be allowed to have access to adult training if, for reasons related to compatibility of timetables, they are unable to continue their studies in normal educational institutions. - Two modalities have been established: attendance-based and distance-learning. The latter is especially encouraged because it implies some advantages for areas with small and dispersed town settlements, as well as flexibility of schedule. - Adult training can be provided in public educational institutions or in private institutions under the inspection of the Educational Ministry. They may be ordinary educational institutions or specific institutions for adult training. In the case of vocational training for adults, training is mostly provided by Collaborating Centres (Centros Colaboradores) by means of agreements with the Labour Administration. - The aim is for students to be able to enrol from any level; over time, they may be able to access higher levels, to validate informally acquired knowledge and to adjust to the agendas, needs, experiences and interests of the adults who wish to be trained. An initial evaluation is conducted (VIA, Valoración Inicial del Alumnado, Initial Evaluation of Students) when learners enter adult training in order to place his or her knowledge and skills on an official level; on the basis of this, the most suitable educational pathway is developed, taking into account the student s needs and interests. - In addition to the certificates obtained through general training, other certifications are being encouraged, such as the Certificado de Profesionalidad (Royal Decree 1506/2003 of March 28), which aims to identify professional skills, to structure Occupational Vocational Training and to provide national validity to vocational certifications in order to favour labour market transparency and labour mobility. In addition, other kinds of certificates are issued for nonofficial training courses, in which the speciality of the course and the number of teaching hours appear. - It is understood that today s cultural and productive developments, within a framework of greater competitiveness, require longer and more versatile basic training. Not having access to training implies a strong risk of social exclusion. Thus, adult training is conceived as a powerful tool for fighting against social inequalities; this is why the social groups or sectors with 12

13 deficiencies and needs in basic training or with difficulties with regard to their professional placement receive priority attention. - As we indicated above, these programmes belong to three main areas, although each Autonomous Community defines them according to its needs: basic training, job training (workbased) and training for social participation (community-based). 13

14 5. MAIN PROGRAMMES The core of the training for adults with basic training needs in Spain takes place in a special framework for adult training within the educational legislation; however, to obtain a complete view of adult training in basic skills we will also have to mention other programmes, such as the Social Guarantee (Garantía Social 6 ) programmes oriented towards young adults who have failed their compulsory schooling, or those programmes developed within the framework of Occupational and Ongoing Training (Formación Ocupacional y Continua) managed by the Labour Administration. Then, we will present the main programmes, as well as the number of participants in each one (data presented are the most recent available). We have organised them according to the three areas defined above: 1) instrumental or basic training, 2) job/vocational training, and 3) training for participation. They can take place in very different sites and institutions, such as council classrooms, schools, secondary schools or enterprises Basic education - Basic education: levels I, II, III. These programmes are carried out in institutions specialised in adult training or in ordinary educational centres outside normal school hours. Weekly training does not exceed 12 hours (morning, afternoon or evening). - Initial Training. Level I, literacy.. Level II, consolidation of basic knowledge and instrumental techniques. - Secondary Education Training. Level III or Secondary Education for adults. At the end of Level III, the Graduate of Compulsory Secondary Education Certificate (Graduado en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) is issued, identical to the certificate issued at the conclusion of the compulsory schooling period. 6 With the recently passed new educational Law (LOE), Social Guarantee programmes have become Initial Professional Qualification Programmes (Programas de Cualificación Profesional Inicial). Nevertheless, we have kept the original name for the purposes of this report (Social Guarantee Programmes), as the new programmes are not yet in force. 14

15 Table 1: BASIC TRAININGS Level I 90,535 users Level II Level III 45,307 users 112,481 users Source: Official statistics of the MEC (Ministry of Science and Education) for the school year. Experience nevertheless shows that the profiles of the students attending each level is very different, so that we are often dealing with different courses that are not usually consecutive. Thus, for instance, in Level I, the students profile corresponds to people advanced in years, with a very high percentage of women. Most students between 18 and 40 who participate in basic training enrol directly in Levels II or III, based on the VIA test or the validations they complete. This is the level that best suits their needs and aims for obtaining the basic certificate of Graduate of Compulsory Secondary Education (GESO). The younger group of students (16-20 years) have failed in Compulsory Secondary Education and choose this educational programme in order to obtain the basic qualification to access the labour market in better conditions (during the IV quarter of 2005, 27% of the young people of this age, did not have any basic qualification). - Training oriented toward obtaining official certificates and the access to higher level training through open examinations. Adults with basic training needs may participate in training to prepare for the examinations to obtain the Certificate of Graduate of Compulsory Secondary Education, which provides access to Medium-level Vocational Training Cycles (Ciclos Formativos de Grado Medio) Table 2: TRAININGS FOR CERTIFICATES AND ACCESS Graduated in Secondary Education (enrolled students) 7,145 Access to Medium-level Vocational Training Cycles (enrolled students) 3,580 Source: Official statistics of the MEC (Ministry of Science and Education) for the school year. There is also specific training to prepare for examinations to access Higher Secondary Education, Higher VET vocational training and for access to University. 15

16 - Social Guarantee Programmes 7. These training programmes are for students older than 16 and under 21 years old (in some Autonomous Communities, the maximum age may be 25) who have not attained the aims of Compulsory Secondary Education and who do not have any certificate whatsoever in Vocational Training. These programmes are planned for improving their general training and to enable them to acquire skills to carry out some specific trade, work and professional profile, and to facilitate professional placement or returns to further education. Usually, the length of the training varies between 720 and hours, distributed between 26 and 30 hours per week; in addition, some modalities are compatible with a work contract. They also consider the possibility of carrying out practical training in companies. Table 3: SOCIAL GUARANTEE PROGRAMMES Students enrolled 45,120 Training centres 1,615 Source: Official statistics of the MEC (Ministry of Science and Education) for the school year Vocational training. - Occupational workshops. At the different territorial levels and in collaboration with other public or nonprofit organisations, the Labour Administration fosters the following free programmes which are easily accessible:. Workshop Schools (Escuelas Taller) and Trade Schools (Casas de Oficios), for unemployed young adults between 16 and 25 years old. No certificate is required. These programmes combine vocational training in a first period with professional practical training in a second period. Learners also receive training oriented towards finding a job, such as the prevention of work hazards, and on computer literacy. General training for those who do not have any basic official certificate is also offered. The aim is for students to learn a trade and to be prepared to work in it at the end of the programme, thus favouring their professional placement. During the first stage of the programme, students receive a grant, and during the second one, a salary equivalent to 75% of the minimum interprofessional wage (salario mínimo interprofesional) based on the training contract that has been signed with the 7 Although we are referring to compensatory basic training, we could also include Social Guarantee programmes in the field of Vocational Training, for they have a twofold aim: to provide basic training and to improve the employability of young people who have failed at school, initiating them into some specific trades in order to make their professional placement easier. 16

17 promoting organisation/administration. The length of these programmes is from 1 to 2 years. Table 4: WORKSHOP SCHOOLS AND TRADE SCHOOLS Participants within 32,318 participants the programme 64.86% men 35.14% women Training centres 969 training centres 788 Workshop Schools 181 Trade Schools Source: Official statistics of the MTAS-INEM for the school year.. Employment Workshops (Talleres de Empleo), for unemployed people over 25 years old, especially for those individuals belonging to groups with greater difficulties in professional placement (long-term unemployed, those over 45 years old, women and individuals with disabilities). No certificate is required, and the programmes that are carried out also combine theoretical with practical training, in addition to computer literacy. Students sign a training contract from the very beginning of the programme, and they receive a salary equivalent to 1.5 times the minimum interprofessional wage. Programme lengths vary between 6 months and 1 year, and public works or services are carried out for the community, usually related to new sources of employment. These programmes are partly financed by the European Cohesion Fund. Table 5: EMPLOYMENT WORKSHOPS Participants within the 31.67% men programme 68.33% women Training centres 1,032 Employment Workshops Source: Official statistics of the MTAS-INEM for the school year. - Training in Professional Placement (FIP Plan, Formación en Inserción Profesional). The National Plan of Training and Professional Placement includes a series of schemes of vocational training targeting unemployed workers, to provide them with the qualifications required to enter the labour market in case they lack specific vocational training, or their qualifications are inadequate or insufficient. Thus, these courses, which must include a practical aspect such as hands-on training carried out in workshop schools or companies, may deal with special fields according to the training needs of each region and production branches of economic activity. These courses are carried out in Collaborating Training Centres authorised by the Labour Administration. 17

18 Table 6: FIP PLAN Participating within the programme Trained students Courses concluded Source: Official statistics of the MTAS-INEM for the 2003 school year. - On-going Training Ongoing training includes training schemes which address those individuals who are active in the labour market, with the aim of improving their employability, broadening their skills, as well as encouraging retraining and professional specialisation. Since 2002 these programmes have been managed by the Tripartite Foundation for Employment Training (Fundación Tripartita para la Formación en el Empleo, FORCEM), a body made up of trade unions, entrepreneurs associations and the Public Administration. Schemes are carried out by the Collaborating Training Centres that may be managed by the Labour Administration itself, the very same companies, entrepreneurs organisations or other training centres. Table 7: ON-GOING TRAINING Participants Schemes Training hours Source: Official statistics of the MTAS-INEM for year Training for participation. - Spanish for immigrants 8. Spanish for immigrants refers to free Spanish courses carried out in the Training Centres for Adult People, in order to support the integration of immigrants living in Spain through language learning. The courses are given by specialised teachers using specific material elaborated and published by the Ministry of Education. Basque, Catalan and Galician courses are also offered in the Autonomous Communities in which there is a co-official language (Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia). 8 We have included Language for Immigrants in the Training for Participation field, as it includes courses that aim at the integration of immigrants, for whom knowledge of language is essential. 18

19 Table 8: SPANISH FOR IMMIGRANTS Spanish students enrolled Other Spanish languages students enrolled Source: Official statistics of the MEC (Ministry of Education and Science) for the academic year. - Mentor Classrooms (Aulas Mentor). These are open and distance-learning courses initiated by the National Centre of Information and Educational Communication (Centro Nacional de Información y Comunicación Educativa) throughout the Spanish territories using computers and several support materials. Courses are given in Mentor Classrooms, in which there is a networked computer, an administrator who plays the role of learning facilitator, and a telematic tutor. Courses are available for learners studying at home, if the Internet is available. These classrooms are mostly in rural areas, located in Centres of Adult Training, in prisons or town councils. There are over 100 different courses on very different subjects, including many aspects of computer science relative to the environment, as well as health care, entrepreneurship, languages, history or electricity. Students learn at their own pace and have absolute flexibility of hours, paying a small monthly fee to study any of these subjects. When participants finish a course, they take an examination and the corresponding Certificate (Certificado de Aprovechamiento) is awarded. They have the opportunity to repeat the test, if they don t pass the first time. Courses for beginners (mostly those in computer studies) have a large number of students without any previous training in this subject. Table 9: MENTOR CLASSROOMS Students enrolled Classrooms 241 Source: Official statistics of the MEC (Ministry of Education and Science) for Other non-official kinds of training In addition, there are a multiplicity of schemes, mostly oriented to the field of personal development and social participation, carried out in several educational institutions such as Popular Universities (Universidades Populares), associations, centres for social initiative, etc. Some of them are addressed to groups of people in a situation of inequality such as the elderly, women, immigrants, disabled people and others. 19

20 Table 10: NON-OFFICIAL KINDS OF TRAINING Participants students Source: Official statistics of the MEC (Ministry of Education and Science) for the academic year. It only includes those schemes managed or supervised by the Public Administrations. In the private sector, there are also many educational initiatives involving attendance and distance training, which offer training at all levels and in very different fields Relationship between aims, programmes, users and potential users. Next, we present a synthesis table categorising programmes according to their aims. They are established on the basis of the different aims for basic skills training. There are three main groups of programmes with three different aims: literacy, skills required for basic certification and skills needed for lifelong learning. As we can see in the table, some programmes correspond to more than just one of the aims established. This is the case, for instance, of Training in Professional Placement (Formación en Inserción Profesional) (FIP Plan), which, according to the specific contents of each course or to students ideas regarding their future, may be useful for achieving different aims. This table includes horizontally and for each sole course the relationship between: a) the aims of the programmes according to the definition of basic skills that we are taking into consideration, b) today s Spanish population and potential users of these programmes based on their needs, c) the programmes that are offered in Spain to cover the aims set, and d) based on the statistical data available, the approximate number of current users of these programmes. The data in this table provide us with an approximate idea of the scope of the work that has been carried out so far and of the gaps that are yet to be filled. 20

21 Table 11: AIMS, PROGRAMMES, USERS AND POTENTIAL USERS AIMS ACCORDING TO DEFINITION To acquire basic skills which allow a person to read, write, count and carry out mathematical operations, as well as to understand a simple sentence in everyday language. POTENTIAL USERS PROGRAMMES people.basic training Level I Basic training Level II Language for immigrants USERS OF THE PROGRAMMES To acquire basic skills adjusted to the knowledge level of the compulsory schooling period. TOTAL people.basic training Level III Occupational workshops Occupational Training FIP Plan ¹.Social Guarantee Programmes Training aimed at obtaining the Graduate of Secondary Education certificate and having access to Medium-level Training Cycles. To acquire those basic skills to have access to lifelong learning (according to the recommendations of the European Commission). Most Spanish adults, in some of the requirements. TOTAL Mentor classrooms ².Other non-official training (public sector)*.other non-official training (private? sector)**.occupational training - FIP Plan ¹.On-going training for working ³ people TOTAL Source: We have elaborated this table on the basis of the official data provided by the Ministry of Education and Science ( school year) and the National Institute of Employment (Instituto Nacional de Empleo) (2004). ¹Data regarding 2003 ²Data regarding 2002 ³Data regarding 2001 * This shows the training offered by the public sector that may somehow contribute to improving the training of individuals (it includes language teaching in Official Schools (Escuelas Oficiales), as well as other courses on social participation and personal development; for instance, further studies in cultural, computer or socio-community development. ** This shows the training schemes offered by the private sector. There are no specific data available because the number of users will depend on the activities taken into account. However, we should observe that, in an extreme case, we could include in this third definition any training scheme (public or private) addressing adults, for all may contribute to some extent to the aim of lifelong learning. 21

22 6. PROFILES OF INSTRUCTORS Educational legislation requires that instructors of adult training aim at obtaining official certificates (basic training), and have the same work and pay conditions as instructors in general education, secondary education and primary education instructors. This is stated in Article 99 of the Education Act 2/ 2006 (LOE): The teachers for adult education of people aiming at obtaining an academic or professional certificate must have the degree established to teach the corresponding educational level. In the different regulations elaborated in Autonomous Communities, this condition is reinforced, requiring that for other kinds of training (not aiming at obtaining official certificates), instructors adequately prove their technical and pedagogical skills for the job through appropriate documentation. The requirements are the same for training supported through the Labour Administration, even though the INEM (Instituto Nacional de Empleo, National Institute of Employment) fosters a Certificate of Professionalism (Certificado de Profesionalidad) for adult instructors. Thus far the Certificate has not been compulsory (as it was in an experimental phase), but it is forseen that the Certificate will be used to accredit professional skills upon completion of a training period. The Administration is in charge of facilitating the necessary specialised training for the instructors in adult education. With respect to the professional status of instructors, in the Preamble of the LOCE it was emphasised that: to succeed in the future of the education in our countries [we] must aim to attract good students to the teaching profession and to keep the best professionals in the educational field. In this sense, the Law aims to raise the social standing regarding the teaching staff; it also reinforces the system of initial training, in accordance with the twofold scientific-educational aspect of the teaching task and of the training that the latter demands; it better orients on-going training and it structures a professional career in which assessment, training and progression may be included in an integrated way. Despite the intentions of the LOCE, also expressed in the present LOE, there are still some deficiencies especially with regard to the level of teachers skills as a measure to ensure the quality of the training offered. The data on the teachers working in adult training under the jurisdiction of the Educational and Labour Administrations for the academic year are as follows: 22

23 Table 12: TRAINING CENTERS AND TEACHERS Training centres for adult basic skill 2 676* learners Teachers for adult basic skill learners Men Women Working full-time Working part-time * Of which are dedicated to adult training; the others are also used for other educational activities/training. The number of public centres is 2 445, of which only 138 are private with collaboration agreements. 7. ASSESSMENT OF THE PROGRAMMES There is increasing interest in the assessment of the quality of education; it became more important with the LOGSE (1990) and even more central since the passage of the LOCE (2002) and of the present LOE (2006). Among the quality principles listed by the LOE in its Preliminary Title, we may find the following: The assessment of the whole educational system, both its programming and organisation and the teaching and learning processes, as well as its results. (art.1) More specifically, assessment is applied to learning processes and students results, the collaborative task of the teaching staff, the administrative function, the functioning of the educational institutions, the inspection, and the Educational Administrations themselves. The mechanisms foreseen are the following: - A combination of summative and formative assessment adapted to the needs of the students. - Those that each educational institution must develop in collaboration with the Educational Administration in charge. Self-assessment is encouraged. - Those that each Autonomous Community establishes when exercising its powers. - Those carried out by the Assessment Institute (Instituto de Evaluación). 23

24 The Educational Administrations are also in charge of carrying out inspections in every training institution (public, private or state-supported), in order to ensure the fulfilment of the laws and the improvement in the quality of the educational system. Their functions are:. To advise and provide information to the different sectors of the community with regard to the execution of their rights and the fulfilment of their duties.. To participate in the assessment of the educational system.. To collaborate to improve the teaching practice and the functioning of the training centres, as well as the educational renewal processes.. To keep watch over the fulfilment of the laws, regulations and other general provisions in the field of the educational system. The new LOE requires that the Government after a consultation with the Autonomous Communities make an annual report to the Congress of the Deputies on the main indicators of the Spanish educational system, the results of the Spanish or international diagnosisassessments, and the recommendations on the basis of the latter, as well as on the more important aspects of the report of the State School Council (Consejo Escolar del Estado) on the educational system. It should be noted that there has been an effort to improve the quality of the system(the schemes that are under the responsibility of the Educational Administration) and its results. In relation to the schemes under the jurisdiction of the Labour Administrations targeted to both unemployed and working people, assessment is carried out by means of: Training for the unemployed (FIP Plan): - Memoranda or reports carried out by the training centres providing courses as soon as they finish. They must include annual information on the degree of fulfilment of the programme planning foreseen at the beginning of the activity, the qualifications obtained by the students and their professional placement. - Assessments on the collaborating centres where courses have been given and follow-up by the INEM or the corresponding body in each Autonomous Community. - Inspection carried out by the Labour Administrations by means of the territorial delegations. Training for working people (Continuous Training): 24

25 - Memoranda or reports carried out by the training centres providing courses as soon as they finish. - The self-assessment that students carry out during the training activity, which is included in the reports. - Every year, the State Foundation for Employment Training (Fundación Estatal para la Formación en el Empleo) carries out an assessment survey on the scope of on-going training with regard to the working population, the adjustment of the schemes to the needs of the market, the impact of the training carried out in the maintenance of employment and in the improvement of the competitiveness of companies, as well as on the efficiency and efficacy of the economic resources and means employed. - Inspection carried out by the Labour Administrations by means of their territorial delegations. Despite regulatory efforts, the transfer of powers to smaller territorial bodies and the delegation of educational functions to collaborating training centres (public and private institutions) implies more difficulties when carrying out adequate assessment and control on the whole system. In return, however, this decentralisation has favoured greater efficiency in the dissemination of these programmes all over the territory. 8. THE STATE OF THE ART IN FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT The Assessment of students has traditionally been summative in Spain, although the LOGSE (Ley de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo, Law on the General Ordering of the Educational System) in 1990 introduced autonomous learning as a principle of adult training. The recently passed LOE (Ley Orgánica de Educación, Organic Law on Education) again encourages autonomous learning and states: The organisation and the methodology of adult training will be based on autonomous learning and will take into account people s experiences, needs and interests, and may be developed by means of training involving attendance and also by means of distance learning. (Art.64.2) Despite the fact that the concept of formative assessment does not fully correspond to autonomous learning, we may find a common theoretical substratum that nourishes both concepts. We understand formative assessment as frequent, interactive of students understanding and progress to identify learning needs and shape teaching (OECD, 2005). Autonomous learning fosters students awareness regarding their own learning process. 25

26 Autonomous learning is based on the very same principles of student autonomy, which must make him/herself responsible with regard to his/her own learning process, even if he/she may count on the tutor s support. The Autonomous learning strategy has been progressively incorporated into some Autonomous Communities since the LOGSE proposed it in We must point out that, according to their traditions, the regulations of the different Autonomous Communities in charge of developing the state framework-law give more or less importance to autonomous learning and formative assessment; this is the case, for instance, of the Autonomous Communities of Aragon, the Canary Islands or Catalonia, which have explicitly chosen formative assessment to assess and reorient the learning process. In their regulations we may find formulations such as the following: Assessment is an element integrated into the training process as well as a means to obtain information on the educational activity, express opinions and make decisions, and must be useful to diagnose, orient, regulate, reelaborate and build up knowledge and attitudes throughout the teaching-learning process. (Law 16/2002 of June 28, Aragon) Assessment will be formative, continuous and integrating. All the same, it will be of a processlike nature; this is why it will take three phases into consideration: initial assessment, formative and orienting assessment and a final assessment that will take place at the end of a learning phase (module or course). (Order 1998/114, of September 7, The Canary Islands.) The first step to develop a methodology based on autonomous learning is to carry out a good VIA (Valoración Inicial del Alumnado, Initial Assessment of Students), which may also be used to recognise informally acquired knowledge. In the new Law on Education it is stated that: Adults may carry out their learning both by means of training activities, official or non-official, and by means of their work experience or experience in social activities; this is why there will be a tendency to establish connections between both ways and measures will be taken to validate the learning thus acquired. (Art.63.4) From here on, the aim is to elaborate a formative strategy and to place the student in an official level of the educational system, so that it may make up for his/her training deficiencies or that he/she may continue studying to attain higher educational levels. 26

27 9. GAPS IN PROVISION AND TAKE UP The deficits in coverage indicated in Table 11 are increasingly important in the current socioeconomic context. This is because a very low educational level has gone from being a deficit to becoming a factor of social exclusion (Subirats et al., 2004). The main gaps that appear in today s scenario in the training of adults with a deficit in basic skills are related to: The difficulty of integrating the adult population with a deficit in basic skills into lifelong learning. To overcome this difficulty, it is necessary to reverse the dynamics of training polarisation in which, initially, better trained adults have greater access to on-going training. Paradoxically, a deficit in basic skills makes access to on-going training more difficult, and despite the efforts to train adults with deficits in basic skills, the mainstream continues provide additional training for the most highly trained. Reversing this tendency requires increasing the attractiveness of ongoing programmes for those sectors of the population, which, due to their deficits in basic training, may be excluded. Improving attractiveness also requires improving the methods and organisation of this training (cost, location, programmatic, effectiveness). The challenge of reducing the rate of school failure among young people in compulsory education. In the near future, these young people will be adults with basic skill deficits, increasing their risk of social exclusion and, in particular of the training opportunities throughout their lives. This fact requires the establishment of preventive measures in order to avoid school failure which is a central aim of the LOE. Basic skills training for new groups: older adults and immigrants. The Spanish population is changing, and the changes that most affect and will continue to affect adult training in basic skills are: on the one hand, the ageing of the population simultaneously due to the decrease in fertility rates and the increase in life expectancy and, on the other hand, the increasing proportion of the immigrant population in the population as a whole. This is why both groups, older adults and immigrants, will increase their proportion in adult training activities in basic skills and will require more resources and specific attention both quantitatively and qualitatively. 27